Sample Letters and Emails for a Fundraising Letter Writing Campaign What you ll find in this packet: 1. Letter-writing instructions. 2. A sample letter and email for FFB s VisionWalk. 3. Samples of successful letters from VisionWalk participants.
Your Personal Story: The Key to Fundraising Success Telling your personal story, either through a letter or an email, is the best way to raise money for VisionWalk. Why? Because asking is the key to fundraising and people give to people. Telling your story puts a face on your fundraising efforts. Steps to Telling Your Story: Your letter should be about 5 paragraphs and include the following elements. 1. Tell people why you are walking. 2. Tell people about VisionWalk. 3. Ask them to support your fundraising efforts with a donation. State your personal fundraising goal. 4. Ask people to send money directly to you or donate online at www.visionwalk.org. Let them know that checks should be made payable to the Foundation Fighting Blindness. 5. Thank people for their support. (And send them a thank you note after the walk!) A sample letter and an email are included in this packet to help you get started writing your personal story! How to Tell Your Story: Send a letter to family and friends. Try using your holiday card mailing list! Include a self-addressed envelope to make it easy for people to respond. To make it even easier, you could pre-stamp the envelope. Send an email to everyone in your email address book. Go to www.visionwalk.org. Click login. Choose your walk and enter your login and password. Update your personal page by clicking the personal page link and following the simple instructions. Tell your personal story and upload your own photo! Upload your address book or enter each of your email contacts. Click Email and choose the type of letter you d like to send. A sample will be provided, but please add your personal touch. Click preview to see what your email will look like. Click send to deliver your email to friends and family. With your help, a Cure is in Sight!
Sample Fundraising Email to everyone in your Address Book Date Dear Friends & Family: Insert personal story here: As many of you know, I have retinitis pigmentosa (RP) which is a congenital, degenerative eye disease. In my case, it manifested itself initially in night blindness. Subsequently, I have lost all vision in my right eye and significant vision in my left. Although I hope to maintain visual acuity in my left eye, there is a possibility that total blindness may occur. The Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB) is a national eye research organization that is dedicated to finding treatments and cures for RP and other retinal degenerative diseases. Since 1971, FFB has raised over $240 million to support critical research that may one day lead to the cure of these diseases. The culmination of more than three decades of research has resulted in discovering the building blocks for cures through novel treatments like gene therapy, pharmaceutical therapy, nutrition, drug delivery, and retinal cell transplantation. Because I am committed to raising funds for research, I will be participating in VisionWalk, a family-friendly walkathon event. The walk on (Day, Date) will be held at (location). My personal goal is to raise (Insert goal here: $500, $1,000, more!) for the walk! I invite you to join my team, (Team Name). If you can t join me, please consider sponsoring me for this very important event. You can click the following link (insert link here) to make a safe and secure donation in support of my team, (Team Name). Or, send me a check made payable to the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Thank you for your friendship and support. I know that with friends, relatives and colleagues like you, a cure is in sight! Sincerely, YOUR NAME
Sample Fundraising Letter to Family and Friends Date Dear Friends & Family: Insert personal story here: As many of you know, I have retinitis pigmentosa (RP) which is a congenital, degenerative eye disease. In my case, it manifested itself initially in night blindness. Subsequently, I have lost all vision in my right eye and significant vision in my left. Although I hope to maintain visual acuity in my left eye, there is a possibility that total blindness may occur. The Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB) is a national eye research organization that is dedicated to finding treatments and cures for RP and other retinal degenerative diseases. Since 1971, FFB has raised over $240 million to support critical research that may one day lead to the cure of these diseases. The culmination of more than three decades of research has resulted in discovering the building blocks for cures through novel treatments like gene therapy, pharmaceutical therapy, nutrition, drug delivery, and retinal cell transplantation. Because I am committed to raising funds for research, I will be participating in VisionWalk, a family friendly walkathon event. The walk on (Day, Date) will be held at (location). My personal goal is to raise (Insert goal here: $500, $1,000, more!) for the walk! I invite you to join my team, (Team Name). If you can t join me, please consider sponsoring me for this very important event. Please make your check payable to the Foundation Fighting Blindness and send it to me at (address) in the enclosed envelope. Thank you for your friendship and support. I know that with friends, relatives and colleagues like you, a cure is in sight! Sincerely, YOUR NAME
March 10, 2006 Dear Family and Friends, I recently accepted the challenge to serve as Chair of the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB) first VisionWalk. It will be held on May 7, 2006, 8:30 a.m., at William R. Boone high school in Orlando, Florida. And, I could really use your help. Ginny and I are involved in this effort because our youngest daughter, Cathy, has retinitis pigmentosa (RP), Usher syndrome, which impacted her hearing and currently is causing a progressive loss of vision. As a single mom now, she faces many incredible challenges. But, as she often says, This is not just about me. She s right. It s about nine million Americans with RP and other retinal diseases, such as macular degeneration, who can lose their sight without a cure. Our walk theme is, A Cure is in Sight. And it is. Through new science discoveries and technology advances, human experiments are now starting. These can result in both stopping sight losses and restoring lost sight. We need you. If you would like to join the Schott Family Team, go to www.visionwalk.org (include the www.), select Orlando as the location, click on the "Join a Team" link located at the top of the page, type in Schott Family Team and click the search button. On this page, click on "Join" across from our team name and follow the registration instructions from there. If you cannot join our team but would still like to support us with a donation, go to www.visionwalk.org, select Orlando as the location, click on the link for "Be a Sponsor" located at the top of the page, click on the circle next to "Search for a Participant" and enter Jim Schott. This will take you to my personal page where you will find the button to "Support Jim. To simply send us a check, please make it out to FFB or Foundation Fighting Blindness and send it to me at the following address: insert here. Ginny and I greatly appreciate your support, Jim Schott Chair, Foundation Fighting Blindness, VisionWalk 2006
March 15, 2008 Dear Friends and Family, As many of you know, I have a type of juvenile macular degeneration called Stargardt s Disease, which has caused my legal blindness since the age of 21. I began college with normal vision and graduated four years later legally blind in both eyes and unable to ever drive a car again. My central vision will probably deteriorate slowly over the rest of my life, but my peripheral vision will most likely stay intact. I am thankful every day for the vision I still have which enables me to do many things independently. Although life is challenging for me, many people have less vision than I have. I am also very thankful for each one of you who have helped me in the past with rides, hugs, prayers, support and friendship. The Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB) is a national eye research organization that is dedicated to finding treatments and cures for macular degeneration and other eye diseases. Since 1971, FFB has raised over $240 million to support critical research that may one day lead to the cure of these diseases. The culmination of more than three decades of research has resulted in discovering the building blocks for cures through gene therapy, pharmaceutical therapy, nutrition, drug delivery and retinal cell transplantation. Because I am committed to raising funds for research, I want to be a part of something affecting positive change for people like me. I will be participating in VisionWalk, a family-friendly walkathon event. The walk will be held on June 3, 2006 at Lake Lynn Park and Recreation Center in Raleigh. My personal goal is to raise $1,000 for the walk. I invite you to join the walk, and I invite you to join my team, Angie s Angels. If you can t join me at the walk, please consider sponsoring me for this event that is close to my heart. You can click the following link www.visionwalk.org to make a safe and secure donation in support of my team, Angie s Angels. Or, if you prefer, send me a check payable to the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Thank you for your continued friendship and support of Joel, Hannah (age 9), Trevor (age 6) and me. I know that with friends and family like you we can make a difference in the future of vision research! Warm Regards, Angie Armour Hudson VisionWalk Volunteer